Due to the increase in burglaries more and more people are installing their own home CCTV systems. One of the best ways to protect your family and to protect your property is to install a CCTV Kit.

CCTV Ireland sells CCTV Kits with everything you need to set up your very own high-spec CCTV system and most come with remote access, so that you can remotely monitor your home using the internet! You can keep an eye on your house while your at work, on holiday, or anywhere that has an internet connection. You can also view the CCTV footage on your smartphone, such as an iPhone, Android phone, Windows mobile or Nokia/Symbian.

All of our CCTV recorders allow you to view the footage over the internet or on your smartphone.

View CCTV on your iPhone Android Symbian or Windows Mobile

We have based this article on a four channel CCTV home kit like this one:https://cctvireland.ie/4-camera-cctv-kit-with-5mp-cameras-from-hikvision-456.html

The first thing to do is figure out where you will want to view your CCTV footage. Many people connect the CCTV Digital Video Recorder, (DVR), to the TV in their sitting room or kitchen. Or you could set up an independent LCD computer monitor to view/review the recorded footage.

Once you have decided where to place your CCTV DVR then the next step is to decide where to place the four cameras. The supplied cameras are colour during the day and they switch to black & white at night. They also have an Infra Red light that switches on at night so that they can see in total darkness up to a range of about 50Metres. All entrances should be covered, including front and back doors and patio entrance. The driveway/ parking should also be covered. Don't mount the camera too high or images will seem too far away and the closer to the subject the better the infra-red picture at night. Also, spiderwebs and dirt can badly affect the performance of the IR picture at night, so it is strongly recommended that you place them where they can be given a quick wipe possibly once a month. The cameras don't need focusing, but you will probably need help in pointing them in the right direction. Don't have too much sky in the frame, as it will darken the image, have as little sky as possible. Try to point the cameras at what you really want to see, don't waste them on useless blank walls, trees, etc. Don't have too much wall or soffitt in the image, as this will reflect the IR lights at night and reduce the night time clarity.

The camera connections should be inside the house if possible, sometimes in the facia board, or if the connections are outdoors use a suitable waterproof box or insulation tape. The cameras operate from 12Volts at very low current so there is no electrical risk if the connections are wet, but it may lesser the life span of the camera.

Connect the LCD monitor or TV to the correct output on the DVR, plug it all in and switch on! Hopefully it all works perfectly but normally some fine tuning is required. You don't need all the CCTV cameras connected before you switch on the DVR.

Make sure that the recording is set to either record all the time, (continuous) or, for more efficient HDD storage usage, set the DVR to record on motion detection. Consult your manual for step-by-step instructions.

Many stand-alone CCTV DVR's are designed to be connected to a laptop or PC via a network connection. You can view the live footage or review recorded footage this way. It is normally quicker and easier to find events this way.

To view the CCTV footage over the internet it is essential that you program your broadband router or firewall to allow certain ports through. It is not necessary to discuss what a port is, but the correct ports must be opened. Different DVR's use different ports, consult the manual. You can visit www.portforward.com who have an excellent website that will show you how to setup port forwarding for almost any router or firewall.

Should I use wired, (cabled), or wireless analogue CCTV cameras?

Choosing whether to use wired or wireless should be an easy decision. There is only one question to ask: can I run a cable from my camera to recorder? If the answer is “yes” then you should always run a cable. If it is very difficult to cable then using a wireless camera may be an option, but only as a last resort.

Advantages of a cabled CCTV camera:

Reliability – a physical cable will always be a lot more reliable than a wireless camera

Less chance of interference – wireless cameras are prone to interference from many sources

Less expensive – wired cameras generally cost less

More professional – wireless cameras are only used in cheaper home systems

Security – wired cameras are very difficult to jam. Wireless cameras can be blocked very easily by many different pieces of electronic equipment, eg: Wireless Access Points, mobile phones, microwave ovens, TV’s, two way radio equipment, gaming equipment, energy efficient lighting, the list goes on....

Privacy – nobody else can see the cameras on your CCTV system, (CCTV means “Closed Circuit”), wireless cameras can be easily viewed by anybody with the right receiver, including your nosey neighbour! Generally better quality.

Wired cameras can be connected to just about any CCTV recorder. Wireless cameras need specific wireless receivers, so they generally can’t be used from one system to another.

Higher quality CCD image sensor, gives a clearer, better balanced picture. Many wireless cameras use cheaper CCD sensor, the images look murkier.

Huge range of cameras to choose from, from €50 up to €1,200, wired cameras are available to suit just about any need, no matter how specialised.

Advantages of a Wireless CCTV Camera

Easy for non-professionals to install

Can work out cheaper – ideal for when capturing reliable, clear images isn’t important

Easy to receive the images with cheap wireless receivers – your friends and neighbours can easily see the images from your cameras too.

So there you have it, the answer is clear, never, ever use a wireless camera solution if you can avoid it. If you need to use a wireless solution because of the long distance involved, then use one of our professional wireless transmitter kits.

Note that some of our team are long-distance wireless experts and they also run away from cheap wireless cameras and kits. How often have you used a wireless device and it stops working, weak signal on your phone, Bluetooth headset breaking up, can’t pick up the wireless broadband in your house. Wireless technology is great but it is prone to interference, drop-out and total failure. CCTV security is too important to rely on wireless cameras